Warriors A Beginning to an End: Echoflight's Tale
by Wrenwings
Summary: Echokit is a member of VoltClan. Daughter of the Clan leader, her Clan expects her to be the greatest warrior ever. However, she becomes a medicine cat. After her apprentice ceremony, the medicine cat receives a dark prophecy that includes Echopaw. Will Echoflight be able to complete her destiny, or does StarClan have other plans?
1. Allegiances

**LEADER:: **_The cat in charge of the Clan. Has 9 lives._

**DEPUTY:: **_The second-in-command. Becomes leader when current leader dies._

**MEDICINE CATS:: **_The cats who specialize in only using herbs and medicines to heal the sick and wounded._

**MOUNTAIN-LEAPERS:: **_Cats who do the patrolling, hunting, and fighting._

**TUNNELERS:: **_Cats who dig the Safety Caverns and dig tunnels to hunt._

**APPRENTICES:: **_Cats in training to become warriors._

**QUEENS:: **_She-cats expecting or nursing kits._

**ELDERS:: **_Cats who have retired from terrible wound or too old to do the usual warrior duties._

**PRISONERS:: **_Warriors from other Clans or loners that have been captured and condemned to VoltClan for a certain amount of time._

* * *

**_VoltClan_**

**LEADER: **Shatteredstar - A handsome white tomcat with gray splotches and blue eyes.

**DEPUTY: **Thistlefang - A jet-black she-cat with amber eyes.

**MEDICINE CAT: **Brightspots - ginger and brown she-cat with amber eyes. {{ I do NOT own Brightspots; she belongs to a friend on another website }}

**WARRIORS: **Rosefall - rose cream she-cat with green eyes.

Shadowleg - black tomcat with blue eyes.

Graypelt - gray tabby tomcat with green eyes.

Hollydawn - black she-cat with amber eyes ; Thistlefang's sister.

Fallendream - gray tabby she-cat with ice-blue eyes ; Echoflight's best friend. {{ AGAIN, this belongs to another friend on a different website. Not the same one as Brightspots, though. }}

Shimmerfur - brown and black she-cat with blue eyes.

Raintalon - blue-gray tomcat with blue eyes.

Emberflare - bright ginger tom with amber eyes.

Leopardpetal - leopard-spotted she-cat with amber eyes.

Nightraven - black tomcat with green eyes.

Troutleap - gray tabby tomcat with amber eyes.

**APPRENTICES: **Fawnpaw - small gray tabby she-cat with green eyes ; Mentor: Fallendream

Orchidpaw - lilac she-cat with blue eyes. Mentor : Nightraven

Fireflypaw - black and ginger tomcat with green eyes ; Mentor : Emberflare

**QUEENS: **Hazelfur - pale gray tabby she-cat with blue eyes. _Mother to Echokit (a pale gray she-kit with white paws, chest, underbelly, tail-tip, and flecks on back. Blue eyes. Our main character), Moonkit (a gray tabby she-cat with green eyes), and Sagekit (brown and white tomcat with amber eyes). Mother to Shatteredstar's kits. Foster kit: Twilightkit (black she-cat with yellow-ginger star-shaped flecks and a crescent moon mark on left flank with green eyes)_


	2. Prologue - A Venomous Death

Echoflight stood, frozen to the spot. She stared at the fear-stricken apprentice, lying on the ground only pawlengths away. How had this happened? Just heartbeats ago, she had been by the nearby stream in the canyon collecting herbs and water for the apprentice. And she returned to see Fawnpaw practically under the snake's control.

"Echoflight!" Fawnpaw howled, staring pleadingly at her. That desperate look in the young apprentice's eyes... It made Echoflight's heart crack. She turned her gaze to the snake, who was at Fawnpaw's side. It was in striking position, as though if Fawnpaw tried to get away it would sink its fangs into her flesh. She glared at it, despising it for putting her and Fawnpaw in this situation.

But this wasn't a time to be glaring at a snake. She had to save this apprentice. She bunched her muscles, preparing to spring. _Yes. If I am fast enough, I can let distract the snake and buy Fawnpaw some time to get away. _she thought, liking the plan forming in her mind. She leaped forward and bared her teeth into a snarl, hissing. The snake turned its head to look at the medicine cat. It seemed to ask, _Huh? Who to attack first?_

Fawnpaw turned her head to stare in complete horror and shock at Echoflight. "Echoflight, no..." she whispered. Echoflight just gave a sad smile.

The snake seemed to get it. It slithered towards the medicine cat, fangs bared. Fawnpaw took that moment to run. She sprang to her paws and hurled herself out of the cave, disappearing. Echoflight was left with only the snake.

Echoflight turned tail, as if about to run, when the snake sank its hooked, cruel fangs deep into Echoflight's flank. She gasped in horror. For a moment, time seemed to be ominously still. Suddenly, pain struck her like lightning. She recoiled, hissing and shrieking. Her jaws parted into a silent wail for help, and she crumpled to the ground. Each breath caught in her throat, and when she managed to breathe, it sounded raspy and scratchy. Her claws made a terrible grating sound as they unsheathed themselves, trying to dig the sharp tips into the stone underpaw. She felt a thin trail of blood trickle from her mouth, and a thin line of blood on her flank with two puncture wounds showed proof of the snake's fangs.

"Echoflight!"

Echoflight blinked dully, glancing up with what little strength she had left. Fawnpaw was staring down at her, her eyes swimming with grief, horror, and shock. Echoflight was glad that it was Fawnpaw and not anyone else that she would share her final moments with. She had known the apprentice throughout her whole life, and Echoflight felt that Fawnpaw was the best friend any cat could have ever wished for. "Fawnpaw," the medicine cat rasped, struggling to speak. A faint smile crept onto her face.

"Don't go. Please." Fawnpaw whispered, obviously struggling not to burst into tears.

"StarClan is calling." Echoflight murmured, her voice growing fainter with every word. She felt the pain slowly fading away, and her vision was blurred. Fawnpaw looked like she was underwater now.

"Echoflight!"

And the medicine cat sighed one last, heaving breath before falling still.

* * *

Yup. Future chapters will be much longer.


	3. Chapter One - A Truly Interesting Day

"It's already been a quarter moon. She should've opened her eyes this morning, don't you think?"

"Maybe she's just not ready." a familiar mew reassured the other voice. _Mother!_

Echokit fidgeted as she felt a tail-tip stroke her spine. She pawed it away.

"Yeah! She's been like this for _ages_! Come on, Echokit! Wake up!"

_Be quiet! _Echokit squeaked in her head. But it was no use going back to sleep. She felt a sudden longing to see everyone for the first time, to learn what Clan life was like. She had heard Hazelfur saying that she'd explain it when Echokit opened her eyes. So she blinked them open for the very first time. It felt weird.

It took her a moment to adjust to all the light and to try to figure out who was who out of the several cats towering over her. "Yay!" the little black-and-ginger kit yelped happily. "She's awake! Let's go out and play, okay? Plea-a-ase?"

"Who?" was all Echokit could mew. It felt strange, speaking for the first time.

The kit stared at Echokit as though she'd grown an extra head. "What do you mean, _who_? I'm Twilightkit, your sister!" the kit laughed.

"_Foster _sister." Hazelfur chipped in.

"Okay, whatever!" Twilghtkit rolled her eyes. "Anyways, did you know that you had other littermates?"

Echokit blinked, glaring at the little kit. "Yes." she mewed. "I heard them." Of _course _she had! They tripped over Echokit's tail and meowed so loud that she couldn't go to sleep for the last few nights. The silly furballs, getting up in the middle of the night and marching around the nursery before they even opened their eyes, and then complaining that they couldn't find the right nest.

"Then tell me their names!" Twilightkit demanded.

"Uh...Moonkit," Echokit listed. "and Sagekit and you."

"Okay, good," Twilightkit snorted. "Now get off your bum and go outside so we can all play games together. I want to play Hunt the Mouse." She bounded out of the den.

"But I don't want to!" Echokit protested, her paws scuffing the soily nursery floor. She wanted to get to know her family before she played games with them.

"Go on, dear," Hazelfur smiled at the little kit and licked her on the head. "Go and play Hunt the Mouse with Twilightkit, Sagekit, Moonkit, and Owlkit."

"Owlkit?" Echokit stared blankly. "Who's that?"

"Nightpoppy's kit." Hazelfur informed.

"Okay." Echokit smiled. She stood up, wobbling. Her tiny legs didn't seem to hold her as she padded out of the den. "Hi!" she squeaked happily.

A tiny gray tabby she-kit glanced up. She had blue eyes. _I wonder if mine are blue, too... _She glanced at the other kits'. They were all blue. _Yes, I must have blue eyes, too._

"Hey! Echokit!" the tabby raced forward and began circling Echokit. "You've opened your eyes! Isn't the nursery bigger than you imagined? Isn't _camp _bigger than you imagined?"

Echokit frowned. Camp? She glanced around. _Yes, this must be the camp. _The tabby was right. Camp was _enormous_! Echokit was speechless. A circle of stone, moss-covered mountains enclosed around camp. It would take a long time for enemies to climb the mountains to attack, so VoltClan cats could get prepared while they struggled. Each den was a tightly woven bramble den or a cavern inside the mountains. _Tunnelers made those dens. _She thought, noticing some clawmarks in the caver dens. "Yes." she meowed, finding it much easier to speak now that she had grown used to it. "Especially the camp. I wonder why we need so many dens?"

"Well," The tabby shot her a furious glance. "You would know - we would _all _know - if you'd opened your eyes earlier so Hazelfur would tell us."_  
_

"Hang on, I think I might know." Echokit gazed thoughtfully at the dens. The nursery had only nursing or expectant queens and their kits. The Clan surely had to be more than that! She saw an elderly tortoiseshell shuffle from one of the cave dens, followed by two others, a black she-cat and a tortoiseshell tom. "The nursery has only queens and kits. That must be the den where the elders stay." She saw a few older cats - _Warriors, _Echokit guessed - pad out of the largest den. "And the warriors must stay there. So maybe each den stands for each rank. For instance, the nursery has queens and kits. The apprentices' den must have only apprentices. The warriors' den has only warriors, and so on."

"I don't think so. Why use up so much space for just one Clan? It's not like we're so big in numbers that we're StarClan or anything, so we could all probably fit into one huge den." a brown and white tom kit mewed._  
_

The tabby she-kit glared at the tom. "Sagekit, shut up!" she squealed. "Echokit's idea makes sense. It's organized and very simple. If we all stayed in one den, we would get trampled by the warriors, 'cause they're so big and we're so small!" Her statement made Echokit laugh. _So. My brother thinks I'm a know-it-all. What a great way to get to know a littermate._

"Please excuse me if I'm interrupting, but Echokit is right. The Clan has different ranks, and Clan tradition goes that each rank gets their own den." an unfamiliar voice meowed. Echokit looked up and saw a long-legged, bulky gray and white tomcat.

"Yay!" the tabby squeaked. "So me and Echokit were right! Sagekit was wrong! Ha ha ha!" She stuck out her tongue at Sagekit.

"Um, excuse me," Echokit mewed. "Who are you?"

"Shatteredstar, VoltClan's leader." the gray and white tomcat mewed.

"Hazelfur told me that you were our father!" Sagekit gazed up at Shatteredstar in astonishment. "But she never said that you were the Clan leader! That's so cool!"

Shatteredstar chuckled. "Anyways, I came to ask you each a question."

"What?" all the kits mewed in unison.

"Which rank would you like to be? Mountain-leaper or tunneler?" the leader sat down, wrapping his tail around his paws.

"Mountain-leaper!" Twilightkit immediately squeaked.

"Mountain-leaper!" the tabby she-kit gasped. "And someday I wanna be leader, too!"

"Tunneler!" Sagekit stared thoughtfully at the cave dens. "I wanna learn to make stuff like that."

"Mountain-leaper!" an unfamiliar brown tabby tom kit declared. "I'm gonna shred those mangy PineClan warriors one day! 'Cause if I'm a tunneler, I can't. I'll only build tunnels and fight underground, which sounds stinky." At the last few words, Sagekit looked furious, but stayed silent.

"Echokit? What would you like to be?" Shatteredstar tilted his head questioningly at the gray kit.

"Mountain-leapers don't suit me," Echokit mewed slowly. "And tunneling sounds weird, no offense, Sagekit. Neither of them appeal to me."

"So you want to be a medicine cat? Medicine cats are cats who are taught solely to use healing herbs to heal the sick or wounded." Shatteredstar mewed.

"Medicine cat!" Echokit pricked her ears. "Yes! I wanna be a medicine cat!" The thought of healing made her so happy! She didn't know why, but she just felt she needed to be a medicine cat.

"You'll be using mouse bile every day. Yuck." Sagekit muttered. "Moonkit, please don't say that you wanna be a medicine cat just because Echokit does."

"No way!" the tabby - Moonkit - gasped. "I like the idea, but I'd rather be hunting and fighting. Plus, if I were to become a medicine cat, Echokit couldn't. I don't wanna crush her dreams."

Echokit blinked. "You won't be." she mewed shyly. "I could live with being a mountain-leaper or a tunneler, but medicine cat seems most appealing to me."

Moonkit grinned. "Great! So you're happy either way, right?" She bounced around in circles.

_Not if I can't be a medicine cat! I don't want to fight. I don't want to harm other cats. I don't want to kill any animals. I want to heal, not inflict any wounds. _Echokit thought, her tail-tip twitching. "Yes," she lied. "I'll always be happy. So, I was sent out here to play games. What game?"

"Hunt the Mouse!" Twilightkit practically ordered. "I love that game! But that game's a two-player. How about Kill the Dog?"

_Uh, I wanna be a medicine cat! I don't want to teach myself to kill! _Echokit mentally yowled. "Sure," she murmured.

* * *

"Grr! I'm gonna kill you, dog! Just you watch me!" Twilightkit screeched, chasing Echokit around camp. Echokit had been stuck being the Dog. The gray kit smirked to herself and, in one giant leap, hurled herself halfway up the mountain. Echokit gasped just thinking about what she had done. Scrabbling to get a hold, she hooked her claws around a big rock and hauled herself up. She smiled tauntingly at Twilightkit, who was hissing abuse at the mountain.

"Mouse dung!" Twilightkit howled. "Moonkit, Sagekit, Owlkit, help me up!"

After the three gave her a boost, Twilightkit easily scrambled up the rest of the mountain. Echokit flattened her ears and skidded down the opposite side of the mountain.

When she arrived at the bottom, Echokit stood up, shaking bits of stone and moss from her pelt. She glanced up to see Twilightkit staring down at her, a look of sheer horror on her face.

"What?" Echokit asked loudly.

"You're not supposed to go out of camp!" Twilightkit squealed. "It's against the warrior code, Hazelfur said so!"

"So?" Echokit shrugged. "I'm not going to wait six moons just to leave the camp. I wanna explore."

Twilightkit paused, as if pondering the thought. "You're right!" she squealed before leaping down the mountain. The other three kits stared, wide-eyed. "Come on!" she encouraged.

A few moments later, all five kits were standing at the foot of the mountain. "What now?" Moonkit asked blankly.

"I wanna explore!" Echokit flexed her claws. "Let's go to Pine Scratches!" She remembered hearing the apprentices explain the pine trees that formed a sort of clawscratch shape as they cleared away the dirty bedding. Echokit wished she could zoom out in her vision and see for real if Pine Scratches' pine trees really formed three claw scratches.

"But that's so far away!" Sagekit gasped, squinting as if he could actually see the trees.

"So? Let's go, scaredy-mouse!" Echokit bounded away.

* * *

The kits had been walking for at least four miles, and no such luck finding Pine Scratches. Sagekit and Owlkit had begun to lag behind. Echokit quickened her pace. They had been padding along the riverbank, too scared to cross it. Echokit finally overcame that fear and bravely suggested, "Why don't we cross the river? It must be shallow. The current doesn't look too strong, see?" She gestured to the current. It wasn't flowing so fast.

"Er, you can go, and we'll follow. You'll be our tester." Twilightkit agreed.

Echokit bunched her muscles and sprang. She yelped as she landed with a loud splash into the river. Paws flailing and spluttering, Echokit was unsure of what to do. The freezing water chilled her bones, making it hurt a little bit with every movement. Arriving at the other side, a shivering Echokit hauled herself to the bank and began licking her fur the wrong way and fluffing it out, drying it.

"Come on, it's safe. Just try to jump it."

A few minutes later, all kits were dripping wet except for Echokit, who had dried herself out. "Lick your fur the wrong way," she suggested. "and fluff it out."

All the kits obeyed. After they had dried themselves, Echokit looked up. "We're here!" she gasped.

"We're at Pine Scratches!"


End file.
